PITTSBURGH -- The Aluminum Company of America is considering the sale of the Westin William Penn Hotel, which developed Lawrence Welk's trademark 'bubble machine,' to Servico Inc., a West Palm Beach, Fla., hotel company.
The deal has not been completed, company officials said Tuesday, and terms have not been disclosed.
William Penn Hotel engineers invented the bubble machine in 1947 to fulfill Welk's request for something to create a 'champagne' effect for his song, 'Bubbles in the Wine,' said spokeswoman Bonnie Best.
At the time, Welk's orchestra was playing for ballroom dancers in the hotel's Terrace Room, Best said.
'This is where he got the first one, and the rest are still here,' Best said. 'They're still used by our catering department upstairs in the Grand Ballroom for social events.'
Henry Clay Frick built the stately brick hotel in 1916. During its early years, it drew convention business and tourists as well as wartime military personnel, Best said.
'It has a lot of history. Almost everyone I talked to has their favorite memory of the Westin William Penn, their first drink, first kiss...'
As the hotel grew older, age began to take its toll, despite two renovations, and reservations dropped off, she said.
ALCOA, the aluminum giant based in Pittsburgh, bought the hotel in the early '70s. In 1984, it began a recently completed $30 million restoration that combined the hotel's 800 rooms into 599 bigger rooms, Best said.
The hotel was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985, she said.
For the past two years, the Westin chain has managed the hotel for ALCOA, Best said. But ALCOA has begun divesting itself of all its real estate holdings and has put the William Penn on the auction block.
ALCOA recently sold its Westin-managed Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles but has not sold the Westin Seattle.
Servico Senior Vice President Howard Feiertag has said that the company would not drastically change the William Penn if the deal goes through.
Servico, which operates the nation's second largest franchise of Holiday Inns, owns and operates 61 hotels in 20 states and Canada.
